Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

I own a mobile dj company that had some issues. I was incorporated if that makes a difference. Here's what happened. I tried to run a national dj company and hire out independent contractors as DJs across the country, basically a booking agent. The worked out ok until I had a couple DJs not show up and then the clients wanted a full refund, I had already spent their money on advertising and other expenses so I didn't have the money for a refund, I used the money from new bookings to refund as many people as possible, but it wasn't enough to cover the multiple complaints I had.
The other issue was, I then didn't have enough money to pay the DJs that did work for the new bookings.
So basically I screwed things up financially and now I have about 15 clients and 5 DJs after me from different states demanding either a refund for their event or the djs wanting to be paid. I do not have the money to do either of those things. I was thinking of filling for bankruptcy for the corporation.
The people are also saying they can have me arrested for fraud, is this true? Or is it simply a civil matter? Each client is owed about $400 and each DJ is owed about $200-300 with a total around $8,500. Is there any fraud that I committed? I honestly didn't set out to rip anyone off, it just was a badly run business. Plus I'm incorporated so if it is fraud, would I be held responsible since I'm the President of the company or would it protect me?

Asked on 1/15/11, 9:14 am

Sal Sheikh www.BetterCallSal.com

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0 attorneys agreed

This will be most likely a Civil Matter.

Fraud would be if you knowingly took the money and never intended to follow through on your promise.

Answered on 1/20/11, 9:34 am

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